‘Tis the season to shun the family: Nearly half of Brits confess to choosing to spend Christmas with friends not relatives

• 43% of Brits avoid relatives on Christmas Day preferring to spend time with friends
• 22% admit to family fallouts over the festive period

London, December 20th, 2017

New research reveals that almost half of Brits choose to spend Christmas with friends not family, with nearly a quarter1 admitting to arguing with relatives throughout the festive period.

The data, from Voucherbox’ latest research, shows that the British public are enjoying Christmas festivities with friends, housemates and even work colleagues, rather than with family.

Whilst families might be out, the festivities are still in, with 55% of women buying up to three new outfits for the season whilst more than half of men won’t bother to get new threads (55%). However, guys tend to make the most of their limited festive wardrobes, attending twice the number of Christmas parties than the fairer sex.

Although some of us are being frugal when it comes to Christmas clothing, it seems that we’re more than willing to splash out on decorating the house, with 86% of Brits buying a Christmas Tree. The figures were lower when it came to purchasing tinsel and decorations (24%), advent calendars (17%) and stockings (14%) in order to decorate homes in December.

All those Christmas parties mean great Christmas grub, with 83% of people admitting that they’ll likely overindulge this festive period. The average Brit will be enjoying three roast dinners this December, consisting of goose fat roast potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings, and pigs in blankets.

Inevitably, almost half (42%) of Brits will eat so much that they’ll suffer from a case of indigestion!

Meanwhile, those who do choose to make the trip to see their loved ones at Christmas won’t be travelling as far as might be supposed. The average distance travelled by Brits over
Christmas is just 126 miles.

Although they may not be travelling as far as Santa to deliver gifts, Brits certainly understand the spirit of giving as they give 13 presents to loved ones despite only receiving seven.

Commenting on the findings, Sabine Langmann, Quality Manager Marketing at Voucherbox said: “It is wonderful that people are planning on enjoying themselves this Christmas with little bit of overindulgence. It is especially nice to see that people are putting others first by giving out more presents than they receive.

“For those looking for a last-minute gift for loved ones we would recommend going online. Many key retailers will deliver packages right up to Christmas Eve, saving you from struggling on the busy highstreets in the lead up to the big day”.